Tag: sleep

This is my experience with the supplement, melatonin.

First of, an explanation of what melatonin is. I copied an article of WebMD.com and you can find the full article here: https://www.webmd.com/sleep-disorders/tc/melatonin-overview#1

“Melatonin is a hormone made by the pineal gland, a small gland in the brain. Melatonin helps control your sleep and wake cycles. Very small amounts of it are found in foods such as meats, grains, fruits, and vegetables. But, you can also buy it as a supplement.

Your body has its own internal clock that controls your natural cycle of sleeping and waking hours. In part, your body clock controls how much melatonin your body makes. Normally, melatonin levels begin to rise in the mid- to late evening, remain high for most of the night, and then drop in the early morning hours.
Light affects how much melatonin your body produces. During the shorter days of the winter months, your body may produce melatonin either earlier or later in the day than usual”

My Experience

Since both I and my partner were struggling to fall asleep, we decided to try melatonin supplements. We bought a box of around 500 melatonin pills and the suggested dose was 3 pills of 290µg each, so around 0.9mg. It was also adviced, to take the pills 30 minutes before we would try to fall asleep.
So, we did just that. Falling asleep went a little better than normal, but I weigh that down to placebo in my case. The night itself wasn’t much different than any other. Sleeping until a little too early in the morning and then I’d wake up. I was extremely tired. It felt like I had a rough day yesterday, and then only slept for a couple of hours. My partner, on the other hand, said she felt better.
We decided to take the pills again the next day with the same results respectively.
I didn’t take the pills for the next couple of days and slowly recovered my energy. My partner has taken them ever since and continues to enjoy their effects. I tried them again a couple weeks later but had the exact same results. I was extremely tired the following days and it felt like I didn’t sleep at all.

I’m no scientist in any way shape or form, but it felt like the melatonin would screw up my sleeping pattern and put my brain in a state of awakening when I was actually supposed to sleep and vice versa. I don’t know if this is at all possible, but that’s my experience with the supplement.

I am convinced, however, that taking melatonin to cure jet-lag and use it ‘fix’ my sleeping patterns when it’s really distorted could be beneficial. Maybe I as a person am more sensitive to melatonin and need less of it. I’m not touching it again anytime soon but would advise you to try it if you’re struggling to fall asleep as my partner has found it very beneficial in her life.